A Love Triangle: Trump, Japan’s SoftBank, and Saudi Prince MBS

It seems as though President Trump may finally be coming around to the fact that a terrible thing happened to Jamal Khashoggi, and a “friend” of his is responsible. Saudi Arabia is an ally of the United States, but under President Obama’s administration, relations were strained. Obama refused to sell high tech bombs to the Saudis. Judging from the war crimes Saudi committed and continues to commit in Yemen, he was justified.

Today, President Trump came out and called the the Saudi cover-up of Jamal Khashoggi murder,

“…one of the worst in the history of coverups.”

It’s difficult to tell what the President is upset about, the sloppiness of the Saudi operation, or the actual immorality of murder.

Trump Says ‘Coverup’ of Journalist’s Death ‘Was One of the Worst in the History of Coverups’

Trump Says ‘Coverup’ of Journalist’s Death ‘Was One of the Worst in the History of Coverups’

President Trump says the “coverup” of the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi “was one of the worst in the history of coverups,” but he added the Saudis have been ‘a very good ally.”

This is one day after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was in Saudi Arabia meeting with Mohammed Bin Salman, the Prince of Saudi Arabia, and the one who would have ordered the killing of the journalist.

The Secretary had decided against going to the “Davos in the Desert” Future Investment Initiative conference, but he still decided to meet the Saudi prince to discuss new sanctions on Taliban and Iranian individuals. Those sanctions were announced today.

The sanctions claim that Iran is financing terrorism in Afghanistan. The announcement coming out of the Terror Financing Targeting Center, said, (according to the Wall Street Journal),

“The U.S. Treasury Department, together with other member countries of a Riyadh-based antiterror-finance center, targeted nine Afghan Taliban men and Iranian officials the administration accuses of training and aiding the U.S.-designated terror group.”

Fact check: Iran does not finance the Taliban. As a matter of fact, Iran considers the Taliban an enemy, and has worked to fight the Taliban. The Taliban, a Sunni militant group designated a terrorist organization, has persecuted Shiite minorities in Afghanistan. That Shiite minority group is named the Hazaras, and they were recently viciously targeted by the Taliban in Kabul, at a wrestling gym.

The hapless labeling of all “enemies” of Saudi Arabia as terrorists is a practice the US and the Trump administration should avoid participating in. It’s almost as if a quid pro quo took place; the Taliban, after all, was, and most likely still is, heavily funded by Saudi extremist religious organizations. The US agrees to support any and all actions by the Saudi regime, in exchange for pressure on the Taliban, and behind the scenes support for Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli policy in the occupied territories.

Oh, and not to mention, US influence over the oil spigots in Saudi. It should not come as a surprise that today, Saudi said they’d increase oil output, just as prices were rising and the stock market in the US was sinking.

Furthermore, another important announcement today. Saudi announced that they will provide $6 Billion to Pakistan. Pakistan was seeking a bailout from someone, anyone, as it was near default on its debt. Pakistan runs a large current account deficit, and much of it denominated in foreign currency. Its foreign currency reserves (USD, Euros) were draining fast.

Who does Pakistan owe that money to?

China.

China has built a lot of infrastructure in Pakistan (roads, bridges) as part of its Belt and Road Initiative. It’s a massive initiative. China’s main goal is to gain influence in areas where the US wants to keep influence. If Pakistan defaulted on its loans to China, its possible much of that infrastructure could be repossessed, meaning China could own critical infrastructure in Pakistan, right next door to where the US continues to fight a war against the Taliban, in Afghanistan.

No way the US would like that.

So the Saudi announcement of the $6 Billion cash influx, in USD, to shore up those FX reserves, was huge, and a message to China that Saudi stands with US on the trade war front. The $6 Billion, by the way, is just enough for Pakistan to quality for a loan from the IMF (International Monetary Fund) which is mostly controlled by the US. This is just another piece that ties the US and Saudi together.

Oh, and and just as all this is happening, the US Navy sails the waters between Taiwan and the China mainland, sending another message to China, that the US will defend those waters as international, and not owned by the Chinese.

And finally, a couple days ago, President Trump tweeted out the following regarding work he’s doing to reduce the trade deficit between the United States and Japan.

Prime Minister @AbeShinzo of Japan has been working with me to help balance out the one-sided Trade with Japan. These are some of the investments they are making in our Country – just the beginning! pic.twitter.com/ib2yB3Akkt

There is a Japan connection in the whole Saudi-US relationship. That connection comes in the form of a bank, known as SoftBank. SoftBank runs an investment fund known as Vision Fund. Guess who the largest investor in the Vision Fund is? That’s right, Mohammed Bin Salman’s Saudi Arabia. According to the Wall Street Journal,

“…the future of the Vision Fund and the powerful partnership between Mr. Son and the kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Together they have sought to become technology kingpins, upending the venture-capital industry with an unprecedented sum of money to seize stakes in some of the world’s hottest startups.”

SoftBank is a huge investor in US tech startups. They are known to be very aggressive in pursuing deals in Silicon Valley. They recently made a massive investment in WeWork, that quite frankly shocked and transformed the IPO market. The message being sent by SoftBank is that US tech companies and start-ups can come to it for financing.

With that said, in the article, the Wall Street Journal states that SoftBank said,

“Mr. Son [SoftBank CEO] may still attend the Future Investment Initiative [aka Davos in the Desert] on the sidelines, an event spokesman said…”

I’d bet that Mr. Son very well may have decided to pull a move like Secretary Mnuchin; refuse to be seen publicly at the conference, but meet with MBS away from the cameras. Saudi investment in the Vision Fund is $45 Billion, just about half of the total $92 Billion.

Massive, to say the least. Sadly, in today’s world, worth more than a free press.